Glassdoor: Google Leads in Pay for Software Engineers

Software engineering has been named the top job of 2012 by several organizations, a field expected to grow by 30 percent, much faster than others, by 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics.

A new report from Glassdoor provides some insight into why: Straight out of college, at just 21 or 22 years old, job candidates can enter a field where the national average base salary is $92,648. That doesn’t include signing bonuses, stock options and various other perks they receive.

Based on info from 5,000 people who contributed salary reports, 13 of the 15 companies featured in the report pay more; the base at IBM ($89,390) and Intel ($92,194) doesn’t quite measure up. The Los Angeles Times has the graphic showing the 15; Glassdoor is expected to post the story on its blog later today.

Going for the big money? Try Google, with a base salary of $128,336, topping rival Facebook at $123,626.

Others in the top 10:

• Apple —  $114,413
• EBay — $108,80
• Zynga — $105,568
• Microsoft — $104,362
• Intuit — $103,284
• Amazon — $103,070
• Oracle — $102,204
• Cisco — $101,909

Of course, that doesn’t mean these are starting salaries. Microsoft reigns there, starting workers with 0 to five years’ experience at an average $91,500, according to PayScale. Its closest rivals are Google, $87,500; Oracle, $78,100; and Salesforce.com, $88,900.